A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Australian and New Zealand Films, North American Films
Brooke Goldfinch, “Red Rover” (2015) In less than 15 minutes, “Red Rover” explores very minimally in a character-driven study the reactions of individuals and a community…
Clarke Tolton, “Metal from the Dirt” (2018) Unfortunately like other documentaries I have seen on underground heavy metal, Clarke Tolton’s documentary on the underground heavy metal…
Deepak Chetty, “Hard Reset” (2016) The premise and the plot are predictable and rather tired, as are also the “Blade Runner” urban setting and that film’s…
Sophia Banks, “Unregistered” (2018) This short film commenting on the treatment of undocumented immigrants in the United States during Donald Trump’s presidency (2017 – 2021) has…
Australian and New Zealand Films, North American Films
Carlton Meyer, “The American Colony of Australia” (Tales of the American Empire, 19 February 2021) In this installment of his ongoing series of the extent and…
William Hellmuth, “Alone” (2020) A moving film about connection – and about how so strong humans’ need for connection can be that some individuals will travel…
Jesse Mittelstadt, “Flyby” (2019) In its own way this film can be considered a horror film, focusing as it does on how an alien force seems…
Korean Films, North American Films
David Yun, “Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in South Korea” (2018) Made by then UCLA undergraduate student David Yun, this short terse documentary challenges the Western narrative…
Carlton Meyer, “The Empire’s 2016 Coup in Turkey” (Tales of the American Empire, 22 January 2021) Rather light on the day-to-day details of the attempt by…
Nino Aldi, “Tribes” (2020) In societies obsessed with categorising people on the basis of arbitrary and artificial criteria such as race and gender self-identity, this short…